


Before the Tattoos

by aika_max



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-01-15
Packaged: 2018-03-07 17:18:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aika_max/pseuds/aika_max
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Huan Beifong visits Ikki before she gets her tattoos as the newest Airbending master.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the Tattoos

The yellow hair ornaments in Ikki's hands were reminders of her youth. She wasn't a child any more as she was when those were what she wore to decorate her long hair. No, she was an adult about to get her mastery tattoos. She couldn't wear the hair balls any more, and even if her hair grew back, she wasn't sure she would style her hair the same way.

"Ikki, there's someone here to see you," Pema's soft voice called out to her, interrupting her contemplation.

When she glanced up, Huan Beifong was standing at the door, looking as arty and handsome as he ever did. Her crush on him was no surprise to anyone who knew her. As a soon-to-be master, though, she thought she should put away her crush on the metal bender. Unfortunately, resolutions like that weren't easy to accomplish.

"I brought you a present," he said as he walked closer to her, his movements lithe and confident.

"You did?" she asked in surprised pleasure. "It's not necessary to give me a mastery present. I'm just glad you came."

He sat beside her, looking at her shaven head. Ikki was dressed in ceremonial robes because she was only a few breaths of time away from getting her tattoos. He had probably broken many rules to see her, but Pema had been kind to allow him a moment.

Huan took the balls from her hand and held them up to the light as if to study them further. Opal had never decorated her hair with anything like that. Ikki let out an embarrassed laugh at the scrutiny he paid to the girlish things.

"If you can't wear them any more, maybe I will," he said in an egalitarian way as he held them up to his own long hair. "What do you think?"

"Beautiful. Just beautiful," she said, blushing to look at him.

Spirits, but she shouldn't be blushing! She'd known him since she was a girl. She had never thought he was a real possibility for her, despite her crush and the encouragement that her mother gave her. Pema said she and Tenzin were proof that age differences didn't matter.

Sitting beside her in companionable silence, he said, "The present I brought you was a special set of bells to be used at your ceremony. I thought it would be my way to contribute."

"Oh, I'm sure they're lovely," Ikki said.

"For you, they are," he replied, reaching to take her hand.

Surprise filled her face, and she looked at the older man.

"We've made much art together. I've seen you bring beauty to desolate places, even if that beauty was sometimes only your smile," he said.

"Please, stop!" she finally protested after she wrestled her embarrassment into submission.

"I thought you'd like it. It seemed to fit your mastery ceremony," he said, at last releasing her hand.

"You're not a master of words, Huan. I'm not either," she said, nervously running her hand over her bare scalp.

"You're a master of the air," he said to her ear before placing a kiss on her head.

At that, Ikki looked up in surprise, and she saw Huan's smile full of mischief. He stood up and bowed low before her with a flourish of his hand.

"When next I see you, you'll be Master Ikki. I look forward to that," he said and gracefully backed out of the room.

After he left, she was almost immediately summoned to start with her tattoos.

When Ikki later had her Master ceremony, she looked out over the crowd, and at the back of the room, Huan stood proudly with two yellow balls tied to his hair and a saucy grin plastered across his face. The bells he'd made rang out sublimely as the air benders stirred them, and Ikki smiled to him her thanks and her joy.

**Author's Note:**

> After the LoK finale on December 19th, I wanted some fiction for these two. I decided to write it myself and came up with this. I posted it to my tumblr on December 22, which might make it the first Ikki/Huan fic. I know... small things, right? Thanks for taking a look all the same.


End file.
